News & Announcements

Finland’s Utsjoki sets scene for aurora borealis summer school

Roughly twenty attendees from all over Finland got together to enjoy a secondary school summer course in scenic Utsjoki in Finnish Lapland. During the two week course in June 2007, the theme aurora borealis (revontulet, i.e. fires of fox in Finnish) brought in basic understanding of near-Earth space, upper atmospheric physics, as well as circus, performing arts and music.

“One of the main ideas of this course was to let the science meet the arts,” says Juhani Harjunharja, the director of the summer school who works as a physics teacher in the Lappish secondary school at Utsjoki. “The miracles of the space and the methods in the auroral research can stimulate the artists. Maybe the art performances can add to the scientific enthusiasm, too.”

The International Polar Year 2007-8 is a huge, exciting scientific campaign focussing on the polar regions. It is also an unprecedented opportunity to demonstrate, follow, and get involved with, cutting edge science in real-time.